As immigration issues grow, so does a Chicago church’s ministry
Lincoln Park Presbyterian’s support of immigrants expands through partnerships in the face of growing crises



CHICAGO — Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church’s history of supporting and accompanying people who are migrating to the United States dates to the 1980s, when the church became involved in the sanctuary movement.
In ensuing years and through subsequent crises related to immigration, Lincoln Park’s immigration work has grown and expanded through partnerships under the guidance of the Rev. Dr. Beth Brown. As thousands of migrants were being bused to Chicago in 2023, Lincoln Park led formation of the Faith Community Initiative, an ecumenical partnership of Chicagoland faith communities committed to supporting, accompanying, and housing migrant families.

Late last year, a team from Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Communications visited Chicago to talk to Brown and project manager Emily Wheeler about why they do this work, how they have approached it, and what faith communities across the country can learn from their efforts. Ecumenical partners in this work and a few of the people who have benefitted from these efforts were also interviewed to hear their stories and what FCI’s efforts have meant to them.
These three videos summarize the major themes of those conversations:
A Migrant Opportunity: 1 — Start Somewhere (also above)
A Migrant Opportunity: 2 — Margins to Margins
A Migrant Opportunity: 3 — Collaborate
For people who would like to hear more, you can find all the interviews here:
A Migrant Opportunity: The Full Interviews
To learn more about immigration work of the PC(USA), visit these pages:
PC(USA) Immigration
Office of Immigration Issues

There have been major developments regarding immigration since these interviews took place last fall, before the Presidential election. Asked about the current work of Lincoln Park Presbyterian and FCI, Rev. Brown replied, “Because of our unique position as a faith community who is housing people and also as the leader of a program that houses people, I have been leading trainings for faith leaders and faith communities, so they know what their rights are in relationship to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). My trainings are informative and very practical, down-to-earth steps a congregation can take if ICE enters a church building without a signed judicial warrant.
“I am trying to get out the message that rescinding the sanctuary spaces memo does very little in real time to change the legality of ICE entering our buildings or not. It simply changes some of their operational procedures, but not the law.”
Brown added that she has been building information sharing networks across the city and that they continue to receive housing requests. She said, “It’s overwhelming how many families are without housing.”
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